Airbnb IPO will have to wait until legal issues are dealt with

Airbnb Inc.’s public debut won’t happen anytime soon as the company is still focused on growth and overcoming regulatory challenges, said Jeff Jordan, the Andreessen Horowitz partner on the board of the online home-booking company.

The San Francisco-based company is still in a hyper-growth stage, Jordan said in an interview on Thursday. Next year is probably too optimistic because management hasn’t prepared for a market debut and more time is needed to resolve regulatory hurdles, he said.

“The growth rate says it’s still early,” Jordan said on the sidelines of the Tech in Asia Tokyo conference, without giving a specific timeline for a debut. “You don’t just magically go public. There’s work to be done behind the scenes.”

Fears are growing that the technology IPO pipeline is backing up. As a result, there’s speculation that large, privately held startups such as Airbnb and Snapchat Inc. will head to the public markets as soon as next year. The current tech boom has been unique because of the lack of IPOs, and has fueled skepticism that some valuations won’t stand up to public scrutiny.